0 Winthrop Square Deal Proposed by Mayor Walsh

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bisnow

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is pushing for the Winthrop Square Tower and is offering tighter restrictions on future tower developments as a concession.

From Bisnow:

Mayor Marty Walsh’s proposal would bar future developments (except Millennium’s) from casting a shadow over the Common, Public Garden and Back Bay’s Copley Square. The plan would also call for new zoning in the Financial District and Downtown Crossing. The shadow change also needs state approval by Gov. Charlie Baker and the state legislature due to the changes it would bring to the Massachusetts’ 1990 shadow law.

0 Winthrop Sq. Tower Casts Shadows on Boston Common

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Winthrop Sq. development in downtown Boston

Credit: Boston Herald

Should the shadows make way for the Winthrop Square tower, or should the law enacted in 1990 and 1992 hold the line? This will have a direct impact on the Boston Common and Boston Public Garden.

From the Boston Herald:

Laws enacted in 1990 and 1992 dictate new buildings in that area only can cast shadows over the parks during the first hour after sunrise or before 7 a.m. — whichever is later — or the last hour before sunset.

The tower is expected to cast new morning shadows for as long as 90 minutes on the Common and 29 minutes on the Public Garden. No shadow would be cast past 9:25 a.m. on the Common and 8 a.m. on the Public Garden.

“Based on this data, we believe the project’s many benefits more than compensate for the shadow cast over the Common and the Public Garden,” Millennium partner Joe Larkin said. “We continue to welcome dialogue with all concerned parties and remain confident that a mutually agreeable resolution of this issue will be achieved.”

0 Winthrop Square Garage Project Looks to Add Developer

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

The shuttered city garage on Federal Street was on center stage at the Great Hall at Faneuil Hall, so to speak. What is in store for our future?

From the Boston Globe:

Six teams of developers and architects, eager in their suits, stood by posterboard presentations and 3-D models and explained the tall towers they’d very much like to build on the site of the Winthrop Square Garage in downtown Boston…Looking at the presentations, one could be forgiven for forgetting that these developers are vying to build one of the tallest buildings in Boston. Sure, everyone had a scale model of their full tower, but most focused their energies on the space where the building meets the street, and on the soaring public halls, pocket parks, and black-box theaters they’re promising to enliven it. After all, that’s where most Bostonians would experience these buildings most of the time.

The BRA says it wants to name a developer soon, but expect it to be months, not weeks, before that happens. The authority hasn’t yet opened financial documents attached to the proposals, which detail offers to purchase or lease the site and each team’s wherewithal to build the thing. After that’s done, BRA real estate chief Ed O’Donnell said, the authority is likely to winnow the pack down to a few finalists and invite them in for another round of interviews. While O’Donnell insists he’d like to name a developer while the real estate market is still hot, reading between the lines that sounds more like it will happen in August or September than in July.